By David Murray. One in seven children or about 121,000 kids in
British Columbia were found to be living in poverty in 2011. The
poverty rate among British Columbia children aged six or lower was
almost 20 percent. This shocking total
means that one in five children in our province are not getting enough
funding (support) to meet basic needs.
It is time for our BC Liberal government to put forward a child poverty reduction formula.Christy
Clark and her Liberal party have refused to commit themselves to
fighting poverty. Almost every other province in Canada has adopted some
sort of child poverty reduction plan.
Child and family poverty simply won’t disappear on their own. Not
only is child poverty a big concern but lone-parent female family
poverty rate stands at 31 percent.
Seven provinces and territories have either enacted or committed
themselves to enacting anti-poverty strategies, and at least one other
province is said to be ready to join the majority. The Federal NDP under
Thomas Mulcair has recently issued reports urging Ottawa to commit to
an anti-poverty strategy of its own.
Despite growing pressure from a wide variety of voices within the
province for BC to follow suit, BC’s many are still looking for this
kind of leadership. The Christy Clark and the B.C. Liberal government
have regularly denied the severity of the problem,
and promised for over a year that a cross-ministry initiative will be coming soon.
Poverty has yet to become an issue in the prelude to the next
provincial election. The NDP has called for the government to introduce a
poverty reduction plan with targets and timelines.
I believe each of us has a role to play in working to reduce child
poverty, but it is time that at both the federal and provincial level we
get the kind of leadership and investment that can help make this
happen. We must all understand that the window of opportunity for
healthy development for each child is short and those growing up in
poverty cannot be asked to wait any longer.
To reach this target we must start to see increases in the minimum
wage, welfare rates and child tax benefits; enhanced employment
insurance benefits and eligibility; universal access to high-quality,
affordable child care; and improved access to post-secondary education
for low-income students, as well as, most importantly, an affordable
housing strategy.